The USAID Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (USAID FinGAP) addresses a key constraint restricting the development of commercial agriculture and obtaining full food security in Ghana ? access to finance necessary to enable investment in agricultural value chains. USAID FinGAP uses a comprehensive approach to facilitate agriculture financing, engaging a broad range of Ghanaian financial institutions (e.g., banks, private equity firms, leasing companies, insurance companies, investment funds, etc.) in partnership with strategic investors and buyers of rice, maize and soy in Northern Ghana. USAID FinGAP facilitates investment in the agriculture sector in Ghana that complements other Government of Ghana (GOG) and other donor programs aimed at expanding commercial agriculture. To-date, USAID FinGAP has facilitated over $120 million in new finance in the agribusiness sector, with over 1,700 SMiLEs in the rice, maize and soy value chains receiving financing.

USAID FinGAP is organized into two critical components comprised of the Agribusiness Opportunities Development Unit and the Financial Sector Support Unit.

1) The primary task of the Agribusiness Opportunities Development (AOD) Unit is to identify a set of strategic partnerships in staple food crops of rice, soy and maize above the 8th parallel in Ghana, which address market failures and build on success factors that with increased financing and investment, can contribute to improved agricultural production, development impact, and increased food security.

2) The Financial Sector Support Unit (FSSU) has developed partnerships with banks and non-bank financial institutions to catalyze financing for the strategic investments identified by the Agribusiness Opportunities Development Unit, benefitting Small, Medium including Large Enterprises (SMiLEs) in agriculture and agro-allied industries in Northern Ghana. To ensure that the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) have the skills and human capacity to structure and manage agribusiness finance and investment deals, the FSSU provides training and technical assistance to PFI representatives.

This assignment falls under Component 2.

OBJECTIVE

As part of the strategy to increase financing for SMiLEs in the Maize, Rice, and Soy (MRS) value chains by the PFIs, USAID FinGAP has been providing demand-driven capacity building workshops and technical support based on the capacity gaps identified at the PFIs within the project?s network. The overall objective of the capacity building is to ensure that PFIs understand the financing needs to the MRS value chains and its associated risks so that the appropriate due diligence, deal structuring, risk mitigation, and monitoring are in place during and after the loan appraisal process to maintain high loan portfolio quality.

Financial institutions? profitability and sustainability largely depend on the management of quality assets including loan portfolio to the target market. Figures from the central bank indicate that the NPLs which have been increasing since December 2015, started recording a marginal drop in November 2016. The figure decreased from 19.0 percent in October 2016 to 18.8 percent in November of the same year. The figure further dropped marginally to 17.4 percent in December 2016. But comparing the year on year NPL portfolio of banks, the figure has increased by 18 percent. The banks? NPLs have increased from 14.7 percent in December 2015 to 17.4 percent inDecember 2016.

To analyze and establish the NPLs of the FIs in the project?s network and make meaningful comparison, USAID FinGAP collected loan portfolio information from the FIs to establish NPLs status for overall, agriculture and MRS loan portfolios for the year ending December 2016. Out of the 33 FIs within the project?s network, 24 FIs (representing 73% of the grantees) reported data on the performance of their respective loan portfolios. The average NPLs deduced from the data collected were as follows:

Overall (13.7%)

Agriculture (9.0%)

MRS (6.5%)

The reported outcomes have therefore motivated the project to conduct an in-depth analysis to establish loan portfolio performance over the period, assign attributions/causes, and willingness of PFIs to reduce interest rate as a result of decline in NPL rates. To achieve this objective, USAID FinGAP seeks to engage STTA to conduct an in-depth analysis to address the overall objective of the assignment with overall goals for publication of the results showing FIs inside as well as outside the project?s grantee network to build their own capacities in order to mitigate risks associated with loans to the agriculture sector.

Specific Tasks

All activities cover (1) Overall, (2) Agriculture and (3) MRS loan portfolio performance of the respective PFIs over the 3 year period (2013-2016)

Establish trend/performance of NPLs from 2013-2016 on cumulative basis.

Establish trend/performance of NPLs from 2013-2016 on year specific loans disbursed.

Probe for attribution of the performance and determine causes and reasons either increasing or decreasing trends in NPL rates.

Find out the willingness of the PFIs to reduce interest rate on offered loans as a result of the decline of the NPL rates, determining any other reasons for reduced interest rates.

Responsibilities

ACTIVITIES and DELIVERABLES

Activities are to be undertaken by two consultants, an international and a local expert, and shall include:

Working with the FSSU to discuss with the PFIs the objective (s) of the assignment, roles and responsibilities.

Develop and send in advance a template including loan classifications to capture Loan Portfolio Performance and NPL rates for 2013-2016 for overall portfolio, agriculture and MRS.

Determine on a consistent basis, if cocoa and perhaps rubber should be included or excluded in the agriculture portfolio classification.

Conduct an institutional assessment and feasibility study on the performance and status of loan portfolio for 2013-2016.

Conduct a feasibility study that identifies the causes of the performance of the portfolio and quality status, draw lessons learnt and attributions. Also, explore the willingness of the PFIs to reduce interest rates as a result of decline of NPL rates.

If the FI had already lowered interest rates, the reasons for such actions should be determined and documented, e.g., overall lowering of MPR.

Deliverables shall include:

An inception report including a detailed work plan after signing the contract.

Field work data collection instruments for review and approval.

Engagement of (up to 40) PFI grantees within the USAID FinGAP grantee network, on one-on-one data collection and institutional assessment to address the overall objective and specific tasks of the assignment.

Draft report for review by the USAID FinGAP team 10 days before end of assignment and final report due date.

Presentation of key findings to the FinGAP team, who may also invite the FIs in the study as well as USAID counterparts.

Final report summarizing the key findings and making recommendations for continued and increased lending to the agriculture sector, particularly in the MRS Value Chains.

TEAM MEMBERS, AND RESPONSIBILITY

The consultants will consist of a Senior Finance Specialist and a Finance Specialist with support from the USAID FinGAP FSSU Manager and Agri-Finance Training Specialist.

Senior Finance Specialist

Responsibilities:

Work with FSSU to contact and engage the PFIs;

Work with FSSU to design institutional assessment tools;

Administer institutional assessment tools

Draft an initial report and present key findings from the field work;

Submit final report after incorporating FinGAP technical team comments.

Requirements

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

The Senior Finance Specialist will meet the following qualifications:

At least ten years of experience in commercial banking or financial sector, agricultural finance experienced desired.

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